Parkdean Resorts, the UK’s leading holiday park operator, is celebrating after winning big at the prestigious North East Contact Centre Awards on Friday.
After being shortlisted for nine categories, the Gosforth-headquartered business secured three NECCA awards, receiving ‘Highly Commended’ recognition in three other categories, fitting recognition for the outstanding service that its Customer Engagement Centre has delivered over the past 12 months.
The NECCAs are an annual celebration of the people who have made North East Contact Centres among the best in the world, and the ceremony, at The Fed, Gateshead, was the biggest award ceremony yet. Judges chose the winners based on a thorough examination around four key areas:
• Customer, looking at the individual / team / organisation's performance in relation to their customers
• Company, considering commercial performance and how the Contact Centre’s achievements have benefited the company as a whole
• Colleague, looking at the individual / team / organisation's attitude to colleagues - how they behave towards colleagues, and the organisations corporate culture
• Conduct, which asks how the individual / team / organisation behaves and conducts themselves.
Following a rigorous judging process, Parkdean Resorts came out on top in three categories:
Customer Service Star – Digital, Abbey O’Donnell
This award sought to find a motivated frontline Service Advisor who consistently delivers outstanding customer service via any digital channel, including email, SMS, chat, video and social media. The judges noted Abbey’s passion and contribution to market leading results. They mentioned her exceptional performance and recognised she played a critical role in digital projects.
People Partner of the Year – Rachael Thompson (pictured right with Customer Engagement Manager, Emma Hodgkiss)
Awarded to a talented individual who can successfully demonstrate their considerable impact and achievements within a people-focused role such as HR, Learning and Development, Talent Acquisition, Onboarding and Induction or Health and Wellbeing.
Despite being in the role for only a short time, the judges noted Rachael’s positive and immediate impact, and were impressed by her passion and boundless energy towards improving the Customer Engagement Centre.
Contact Centre of the Year (Under 250 seats)
Awarded to the Contact Centre that demonstrates leading practice for all their stakeholders. The judges referenced an incredible amount of pride, noting lots of new activity and achievements in the past year, with one judge describing it as the BEST Customer Program they have ever seen.
Chloe Squires, Director of Customer Experience, Parkdean Resorts, said, “It’s vital that we are a truly customer-centric business, and we have made significant changes to our Customer Engagement Centre over the past year to make sure we’re continuing to provide the very best support for our holidaymakers and holiday home owners.
'To win three awards in a region with some of the very best contact centres in the world is an outstanding achievement – we’re incredibly proud of our CEC team, and these awards are fitting external recognition for all the great work they do.”
Parkdean Resorts’ success at the NECCAs comes after the business also won Contact Centre of the Year (under 250 seats) at the UK National Contact Centre Awards in June 2022.
To further illustrate the company’s success in improving guest experience, twenty Parkdean Resorts holiday parks were this year awarded the prestigious Tripadvisor 2022 Travellers’ Choice Award, building on the success of the nine parks that were awarded the same accolade in 2021.
Furthermore, the most recent round of Visit England Quality Assessment and Star Ratings saw one new 5 Star park, and three new 4 Star parks, taking Parkdean Resorts’ overall tally to six parks with the maximum 5 Star rating, and 35 parks with 4 Stars, while in the Welsh equivalent, Ty Mawr Holiday Park jumped from 3 Stars to 5 Stars.